Toyota announced that it is working with three other established companies with the aim of enhancing the progress of taxi service development. Together with JapanTaxi, Accenture and KDDI, they are to start deploying an AI-based taxi dispatch support system. This will help in precisely predicting the demand for taxi services.
It is possible by “combining data from taxi service logs with predictions of demographics made by location-based big data from smartphones as well as event information.” The joint force started trials of deployment in Metropolitan Tokyo.
The Toyota taxi dispatch support system can predict how many occupied taxis are running in the given area every 30 minutes. Taxi service log data and demographic predictions are collected by the companies. The collection of data as well includes other factors affecting taxi services. These are weather, public transport service availability, and events in significant places. A test in Tokyo provided 94.1% accuracy in the prediction.
Since last month, select taxis of Nihon Kotsu, affiliated by JapanTaxi, have been bearing the AI system incorporated with tablet PCs. The tablet map helps the system being able to predict unoccupied taxis in the area as well. This provides an opening for drivers to adjust their positions as per the balance of supply-demand. Drivers will also benefit from receiving related info on the routes of more demand.
The pilot test in February resulted in an average sales increase of 20.4% on a month-to-month basis. Dozens of taxis are lined up to go through the trial, so the four companies may go for a widespread rollout later in 2018.
According to the companies, one of the benefits of their system is that it will serve as a training tool for new drivers. Additionally, they are to further research with the aim of developing the system so that they can offer a ‘seamless mobility experience.’
The newsroom blog of Toyota underlined the basic responsibilities of all the companies in the joint venture. Are you a transport tech enthusiast? Share your views in the comments below regarding the innovation and potential future advancements in the taxi service industry. Stay with us to get more updates on the progress of the project and the tech transport field.
